Children's Book Connections

The following post was written by the YWCA's new Racial Justice Program Coordinator Nell Fleming, pictured at right with her husband and daughter.

It's not every day that an award winning children's picture book author calls a mother two days after the purchase and reading of her book. But let me start at the beginning (if there is such a place), as this tangled web of connections is hard to unravel.

It all started when a librarian at the University of Illinois Center for Children's Books responded to my request to diligently search for any fictional picture book ever published with a white woman and a black man as a couple, married, parents or otherwise – preferably on the cover of the book. I was starting my proposal for a study on the demographics of children's picture books in the current century. Only one book was referred and the librarian who found it thought that perhaps it was a non-fiction book but wasn't sure. I can understand why she thought so, because the main character, Tyler, is a real person and the source of the inspiration for this rhyming tale of how we view people based on their perceived skin color.

This was so far the only book I was able to identify that had a white woman as the spouse or partner of any person of color or in any interracial relationship in a children's fiction picture book and it isn't even completely fictional. Why does it matter if it is fiction or non-fiction you may wonder? The reason is because fiction speaks to our imagination and what is possible, desirable, and worth wishing for. Non-fiction is valuable because it speaks to what is true and real now and in times past.

My proposal was approved and I started my research last week. On the third of 2,500 pages of book covers to research, I spotted the book in question: Am I a Color Too? by Nancy Vogl. I asked myself why I had not yet purchased or checked the book out. And so, I obtained a copy and read it myself and then to my daughter, who is biracial also. Imagine my surprise when the author called me two days later to say she had found me on the Not in Our Town website. She had been following my work as the Racial Justice Coordinator at the YWCA of Charleston – specifically the Women with Biracial Children Support group we just launched last week. It took my brain a minute to figure out what was happening. As I listened to the voicemail, I wondered if she was calling about my work life, my school life, or my personal life. When I returned her call, we discussed a series of additional connections, including mutual friends in Illinois (although we both live in other states), parallel interests and odd coincidences mostly learned through Facebook.

Although I've never been one to believe in fate or purpose behind random synchronicities, it is not hard to see why people would attribute meaning to these kinds of experiences. There is a kind of otherworldly quality when the odds of meeting someone at just the right time and place to connect on so many different levels is statistically improbable at least in the world I was raised in before the internet. The issues that I hold dear used to make me the odd one…the black sheep…the eccentric one. However, now I'm connected with so many thousands of people like myself in my community, nation and the world, that I seem more average all the time. If racial equality becomes the average lifestyle, I’ll take it. I can always dye my hair blue when I turn 65.

2010 YWCA Women of Achievement Honoree #2: Nina Denton Pasinetti

Meet Nina Denton Pasinetti - one of this year’s 2010 YWCA Women of Achievement honorees and the second in our 4-week series of blog posts leading up to this inspirational event on February 18. This year marks the 14th annual YWCA Women of Achievement Awards Luncheon, honoring the outstanding women in our community whose personal and professional achievements inspire and empower other women to strive for their highest goals.

Nina Denton Pasinetti has been passionate about the arts since early in life, when she studied with the National Ballet of Canada, Ballet West, Cecchetti Ballet Council of America, Luigi and the Gus Giordano Center. A former Miss West Virginia, Nina graduated summa cum laude from Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston) with a major in mathematics and obtained an M.A. from Ohio University.

Nina returned to Charleston to teach math at George Washington High School, where she also managed, choreographed and directed musicals and plays and later opened Ballet and Musical Theatre Dance Arts Inc. During her early GW teaching days, Nina operated the YWCA’s top floor as a ballet, tap and jazz school of dance. Fifteen years later, she moved to the Oddfellows building and opened Ballet and Musical Theatre Dance Arts Inc. where she continued to teach ballet, tap and jazz for the next 10 years.

During the 1980s, she originated the Appalachian Youth Jazz-Ballet and served as president of Dance West Virginia, where she arranged master classes and dance scholarships to professional schools for talented dancers throughout West Virginia. She began choreographing for the Charleston Light Opera Guild 38 years ago and became their artistic director 26 years ago – choreographing 136 musicals and directing 96 of them to date.

Nina volunteers as board vice president FestivALL Charleston, dance chair on the Clay Center’s programming committee, and adjudicator for the WV State Thespian Festival, while also serving as a member of the University of Charleston National Alumni Board. She is listed in several publications including Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World. Nina is extremely proud of her many successful students that have continued professionally in theatre, film, television and dance, including actress Jennifer Garner.

2010 YWCA Women of Achievement Honoree #1: Deb Copeland

Meet Deb Copeland one of this year’s 2010 YWCA Women of Achievement honorees and the first in our 4-week series of blog posts leading up to this inspirational event on February 18. This year marks the 14th annual YWCA Women of Achievement Awards Luncheon, honoring the outstanding women in our community whose personal and professional achievements inspire and empower other women to strive for their highest goals.

Deborah L. Copeland leads a life with multiple starring roles, including educator, entrepreneur, philanthropist, life coach, community activist, motivational speaker, religious group leader, survivor, wife, mother, and author of the best-selling book, Attitude Therapy. Her greatest joy, however, comes not from her business successes but from her maternal role in a blended family of eight – including three youngsters adopted from abroad. She also takes pride in her strong and abiding faith, which has seen her through many of life’s most challenging trials and tribulations.

From 1981 to 1994, she served as President and CEO of Smart Temporary Services – a recruitment company she started and grew from just one employee to 4,000 employees serving seven states. After selling the company to a global firm, Copeland started Work Smart Business Consultants – a training and development firm that readily became a leading supplier of consultant services to hospitals and major corporations across many industries.

As a speaker and seminar leader, Deb’s compelling messages continue to draw audiences throughout the United States. Her most requested courses enable corporations to get better results from their employees while maintaining and promoting their physical and mental well-being. She is an active community volunteer, serves on numerous boards, and has received numerous awards and accolades, including being named “Entrepreneur of the Year" in the Services Division in 1992 by The Institute of American Entrepreneurs, and being selected as one of 10 business executives profiled in “Who Who’s in West Virginia Business” by The State Journal in 1995.

In June 2009, Deb committed to working one year for God, with her new motto being “where He leads me, I will follow.” She has now officially “retired” (November 2009) to do a lifetime of God’s work, including starting a nonprofit called For Him that will raise money for worldwide charities and a division called A God Thing, which will raise money for local charities on a continuous basis.